There’s nothing like a negative comment on social media to put a dampener on your day.
When you’ve worked tirelessly to build up a brand, just one single critical voice can feel like taking a bullet, easily outweighing all of the supportive ones.
With social media and online reviews playing such a huge part in our consumer buying decisions these days, how you mange online negativity could not be more important.
Before a recent seaside break to Devon, I decided to check out my accommodation on TripAdvisor before hitting the road.
While all of the recent reviews were (thankfully) positive, a few users had raised a few gripes with the accommodation and suggestions for improvements.
Naturally I had a good read and what surprised me was how the owner had responded; short, sharp, ultra-defensive responses that disputed what holiday goers were saying and suggesting. The owner didn’t seem willing to accept the feedback or to have taken anything on-board.
So, how should businesses best approach negative comments?
Don’t keep your head in the sand
Many companies choose to skirt around negative comments, ignoring them or worse still, simply deleting them.
Handling complaints via social media or review sites such as TripAdvisor are as important as speaking to them face-to-face. If a customer was stood in front of you, you wouldn’t ignore them or walk away, or enter into a heated exchange of words.
If you feel like a complaint is unjustified, it’s easy to get emotional and defensive over your business. Reacting with anger will only serve to exacerbate an already negative situation.
Keep calm and have some well thought out responses already drafted should anyone wish to raise any issues about you and your company.
Ignoring comments won’t make them go away either, so it’s important to respond to each comment accurately and if possible, in private. By asking a customer to private message you, you can easily resolve a situation by taking the dialogue out of the public eye where others can’t get involved.
“Sorry you feel that way, we’ll try to do better”
In my book, this is worst response you can give to a disgruntled customer. It doesn’t sound sincere nor does it offer a real solution to the issue that has been raised.
Instead you should be aiming to offer both an apology and a solution. The customer wants to feel like they’ve been listened to and that their feedback has been taken on-board. Be a human being and don’t come across like a robot set to auto-reply.
Thank your customer for their feedback and encourage them to provide more information and suggestions where possible, at the end of the day this will prove to be invaluable to your business’ development.
This is your chance to turn one disgruntled customer into a brand evangelist.
The glass is always half full
Ever the optimist, there’s always a chance to turn any negative into a positive. This is your chance to prove how awesome your company is!
Reacting to negative comments and feedback in a calm and well thought out manner is a good opportunity for your brand to shine. By solving a problem in front of your customers, you’re showing that you are engaged with them and that you genuinely care what they think. And more importantly, that you care if they invest in your product or service again.